Hobby Center

Everyone is good at something. Learning a hobby or new skill is a great way for you to have something for yourself. Hobbies are not only entertaining but when you find a hobby that you enjoy, it really gives you a sense of accomplishment.

If you have been putting off finding a hobby for yourself, indulging in a favorite past time can have a very positive impact on your personal and professional life, not to mention your physical well being.

If you don’t know everything you enjoy, don’t worry. Few people know all the things under the sun that they enjoy doing. Go out and discover some hobbies, don’t expect a hobby to find you. So, get ready to hop off the couch and try out new things because you never know when a particular activity will strike a chord.

Being Productive

There are many ways to be productive. Being productive can help you feel better, accomplish more, and even lose weight. Some popular ways to be productive are working out, running errands, lawn work, gardening, and taking care of kids. Start a Journal.

Learning

Life is a learning curve and you’re never too old to learn. In many ways you truly are only as old as you think you are. Never shy away from learning something, the quest for knowledge should be a perpetual human desire.

Critical Thinking

Too often, people rely on their pre-set responses to different situations. If a problem arises, they refer to common solutions, and then move on. People live their lives without really using their critical faculties. The result? Their creativity and logical thinking suffer in the long term because they were never fully used. That ends today; you’re going to learn right now how adopt a critical mindset. Here are the steps:

Always ask questions. When you ask questions, you reframe reality and you take in the potentialities and alternatives within a given situation. If you don’t ask questions frequently, the tendency is you will accept the beliefs and solutions of other people. This might be convenient sometimes, but it doesn’t help boost your mind power at all, because you revert to a passive acceptance of information.

Solve problems systematically. Whenever you are faced with a problem, the best thing to do is to list down everything you know about the problem first, and then list down all of the possible solutions. If your current solution does not work, just move on and test other solutions in your list.

Don’t believe what you see or hear immediately. Often, things are really not what they seem. It’s actually bad to just trust what you see, because people can often manipulate what’s in front of you just to get your agreement. So before accepting something as truth, be inquisitive and try to get the truth behind what’s in front of you.

Creativity

Whether its writing, cooking, photography, sculptures or pottery; give your creativity a chance. Finally, mingling with likeminded people can often make you see the importance of a hobby and the fun quotient that can be associated with it. So, don’t just languish with the thoughts of cultivating a new hobby, join online and offline groups to discuss what you enjoy. After all, finding a new hobby only takes experimentation and an open mind.

The human brain has two main divisions that represent two very distinct thinking centers: the creative center and the logic center. Many times, people overuse their logic centers while completely ignoring their creative sides.

The logic center of the brain is often used for problem solving, rationalizing, etc. while the creative center is used primarily for self-expression.

Most of the time, people overuse their logic centers while completely ignoring their creative sides. It’s fine if you work in an environment that requires you to use your logic center more (i.e. you’re a computer programmer or mathematician); however, you still need to balance your use of both sides of the brain so your brain power won’t take a hit.

The easiest way to stimulate your creative center is by engaging in music, art, and writing. These three activities should be enough for anyone because once you start on just one of these activities, I’m sure your days and nights will be filled with pure personal enjoyment, and more importantly, brain challenges in the form learning how to do things right.

For example, if you want to learn how to sketch realistic human figures, you have to learn how to draw accurate lines on paper. All that effort challenges the brain, and the brain responds by increasing the number of connections it has.

Challenge Your Senses

Too often we become dependent on just one or two senses (usually hearing and sight). Try focusing on some of your other senses. But what would happen if you purposefully blocked out your major senses? Well, the brain would actually have to work harder to compensate for the blocked senses! Blocking one or more of your senses is good brain exercise. You can try this simple brain-boosting exercise when performing simple activities such as eating, or even when you’re folding origami. As long as you’re not driving or operating any machinery, you can probably blindfold yourself or block out your ears with earplugs without running into trouble. During the exercise, I want you to immerse yourself in the experience of having to use your other senses to make sense of what’s happening. The longer you immerse yourself in this exercise, the better the results.

We live in a very eye-centric society where people trust their eyes over all their other senses. This can lead to mental stagnation and reduced mental acuity over the long term. You need to use all of your senses if you want to keep your mind sharp. This can be done in a variety of ways.

For example, you can visit a pastry shop so you can sample cookies and breads that you would have never thought of buying for yourself. You can challenge your sense of smell by blindfolding yourself and having someone bring you items to smell. You have to identify the items just by smelling them.

We want to heighten your senses so the brain will be challenged even more to bring you the correct answer. You can easily embark on a sensory adventure at home or when you are traveling. If you can perform this exercise once or twice a week, you are well on your way to improving your brain power.

Thinking Outside the Box

If you settle for quick fixes and plain solutions each and every time, your mind will stagnate and you will feel uncreative and unmotivated. This is the reason why you should always try to arrive at more creative solutions to problems. It’s not that you don’t want to solve your issues or problems with time-tested solutions; you can apply those solutions, but you can think of novel solutions at the same time. Spark those neurons and brain cells!

Getting Out of Your Comfort Zone

Don’t just focus on what you’re good at. Learn something new. Like most people you probably have a comfort zone. One great way to boost your brain power is to step out of this comfort zone and begin learning new things. You probably stick to things the same types of food, books, and clothing. Step out of your mental comfort zone and seek out things that are completely out of this world. For example, try reading more fiction books to widen your creative horizons. If you never get dressed up try getting dressed up for No Reason. Embrace the strange and try to learn from new experiences. Remember to believe in yourself and your abilities.